40-year-old insurgency the real cause of terrorism in Afghanistan: FO

[shahbaz baig]

40-year-old insurgency the real cause of terrorism in Afghanistan: FO
July 20, 2017

Terrorism in Afghanistan has increased because of the 40-year-long insurgency in the country, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria stated in his weekly briefing Thursday.

Earlier, a report by the Ariana Television Network (ATN) had stated that the Afghan Defence Ministry, in response to the announcement of Khyber-4, had called for military operations in "terrorist centres placed in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta under the monitoring of the United States (US) and China".

"Pakistan has completed health, education and other developmental projects in Afghanistan with $500 million of American aid," FO reminded critics across the border, also adding that prominent leaders of the Haqqani network have been killed in Afghanistan.

Both Kulbhushan Jadhav and Ehsanullah Ehsan had confirmed the presence of India's spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in Afghanistan and that it is operating in Pakistan, the FO spokesman added.

FO statement came a day after the United States (US) Department of State said, in its annual Country Reports on Terrorism 2016, that Islamabad has failed to take significant action to constrain the ability of the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network to operate from "Pakistan-based safe havens".

"Pakistan will continue playing its role for peace and stability in Afghanistan," the FO said, adding that its efforts to counter terrorism have been acknowledged across the globe.

Ceasefire violations by India
Zakaria also said that India is heightening tensions along the Line of Control (LoC) and working boundary to divert international attention from its "heinous crimes" in Kashmir.

"Yesterday, as a result of this unprovoked action, one of our brave soldiers embraced martyrdom and two were critically injured," the FO said.

The Indian deputy high commissioner (DHC) was also summoned on Thursday to the FO to protest the ceasefire violations. It was the second time in two days that the Indian DHC had been summoned by the FO.

The FO's director general of South Asia condemned the "unprovoked" Indian action which resulted in the deaths of two civilians and injuries to five others on Wednesday. Indian forces have violated the ceasefire 594 times to-date this year, the FO said.

 

[Turingsage]

Pakistan Harbouring Terrorists In Afghanistan: US Intel Official

Jane Muldun May 23, 2017

"Pakistan needs to be told very clearly that Afghanistan's security and stability is in the interest of all of the parties in the region," Lt Gen Vincent Stewart, director, Defense Intelligence Agency told US lawmakers.

Pakistan is "harbouring terrorists" and using them as "reserve" in Afghanistan, a top US intelligence official has told lawmakers.

"Pakistan views Afghanistan or desires for Afghanistan some of the same things we want: a safe, secure, stable Afghanistan. One addition — one that does not have heavy Indian influence in Afghanistan," Lt Gen Vincent Stewart, director, Defense Intelligence Agency told members of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing on worldwide threats.

"They view all of the challenges through the lens of an Indian threat to the state of Pakistan," Stewart said. "So they (Pakistan) hold in reserve terrorist organisation — we define them as terrorist organisations, they hold them in reserve so that — if Afghanistan leans towards India, they will no longer be supportive of an idea of a stable and secure Afghanistan that could undermine Pakistan interest," Stewart said. He said Pakistan needs to be told very clearly that Afghanistan's security and stability is in the interest of all of the parties in the region and does not pose a risk to Pakistan. "We've got to convince Pakistan that if they're harbouring any of the Haqqani network members that it is not in their interest to continue to host of Haqqani network, that we ought to be working together to go after those 20 terrorist organisations that undermine not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but all of the region," he said.

"And so we've to make sure we're pushing them to do more against the Haqqani network. Then (they should) separate the Taliban from the Pashtun, which want a Pashtun dominated Afghanistan," he said.

"So we've got to get the conversation going again with Pakistan about their role in not harboring any of these terrorists, helping to stabilise Afghanistan," he added.

Hoping that US may have some progress in this, Stewart said Pakistan also have some influence in bringing the Taliban to the peace table.

"So, we've got to get them to think about reconciliation, that the status quo is not in their best interest," he said.

Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence said there is need to evaluate how to address the situation of Pakistan harbouring terrorist.

"I think certainly an evaluation of how we work with Pakistan to address the situation of the harbouring of terrorist groups would be essential to a strategy that affects Afghanistan, going forward in Afghanistan," he said in response to a question.

"Because that is potentially a very disrupting situation, putting our own troops at risk and undermining the strategy of dealing with the Taliban and local groups that are trying to undermine the government," Coats said.

http://vote.us.org/memo/thread/1042...-terrorists-in-afghanistan-us-intel-official/

 

[UnitedPak]

@Turingsage Don't try to derail or spam a topic with pointless cliched articles. If you have a point, make it yourself.

 

[Morpheus]

Also because of incompetency of Afghan forces.